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Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Rangers have re-assigned rookie defenseman Tim Erixon to Connecticut (AHL) today after he was a healthy scratch for the second straight game in Wednesday’s 4-2 win at Winnipeg.

Erixon had two assists in five games in his third stint with the Rangers this season, with those assists coming in the final two games he played. But he only logged 9:41 in the Rangers’ 4-3 shootout win at Toronto on Saturday and was on the ice for both the Maple Leafs’ first and last goals.

Overall, Erixon has two assists in 18 games for the Rangers this season and three goals and 30 assists in 43 games for the Whale in his first season of pro hockey in North America.

Erixon came out of the lineup for Anton Stralman. Stralman playing well at Minnesota with an assist in 19:45 while he was a minus-1 in 11:00 at Winnipeg and played just 42 seconds on the power play after coach John Tortorella indicated the night before he wanted to use Stralman more in man-advantage situations.

Still, the Rangers probably didn’t have any plans to take Stralman out of the lineup so they probably wanted to get Erixon back into Connecticut’s lineup rather than having him remain a healthy scratch at the NHL level.

It also means that Steve Eminger is likely close to returning from a sprained right ankle, which have reduced Erixon’s chances of playing even further.
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About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.